Iain Dalton, Leeds Socialist Party
Leeds TUSC met with council officials, on 2 June to call for a mass council house building programme and the introduction of a council-run not-for-profit letting agency.
The council representatives said they’d already put £100 million aside for 383 new council homes and around 800 refurbishments, and secured cross-party agreement for lobbying government for the ability to borrow to build new council housing.
Baby steps
While these could be seen as baby steps in the right direction – Leeds has a huge council house waiting list of over 20,000 – they did also promise to examine the idea of a not-for-profit letting agency.
A feasibility study from York University Socialist Society, where a not-for-profit agency has been founded, was passed on to the council to help make our case.
We will also continue collecting signatures at www.change.org/p/leeds-city-council-establish-a-council-run-letting-agency-build-council-houses